Brush roll of a vacuum cleaner

ABSTRACT

A vacuum cleaner has a brush roll which has a housing. A motor is disposed within the housing and has a pulley mounted on a shaft of the motor. A roller is disposed within the housing and has a drive wheel. A belt couples the pulley to the drive wheel, so that the motor can drive the roller. The roller has bristles for sweeping a surface to be cleaned.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This non-provisional patent application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) from Patent Application No. 2010201202474 filed in The People's Republic of China on Feb. 23, 2010.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates vacuum cleaners and in particular to a brush roll of a vacuum cleaner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Vacuum cleaners remove dust and dirt from a surface by use of a vacuum. Sometimes a vacuum cleaner will use a brush roll, also known as a beater brush or power brush, to shift dust and dirt which is more difficult to move, such as dust caught within the fibers of a rug or carpet. In a known brush roll of a vacuum cleaner, an electric motor is used to rotate a roller via a gearbox. The roller has many bristles to form a rotating brush. The gearbox is driven by the motor and the output gear wheel of the gearbox is engaged with a drive wheel of the roller. The motor is a low voltage DC motor and thus the vacuum cleaner requires a transformer or similar circuit to change the power from the high voltage AC supply to which the vacuum cleaner is connected in use, to the low voltage DC power required to operate the motor. The brush roll has disadvantages of high cost and noise because the cost and noise of the gearbox and transformer is high.

Hence there is a desire for a low cost and low noise brush roll and a vacuum cleaner using the same.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This is achieved in the present invention by using a belt to couple the motor to the roller.

Accordingly, in one aspect thereof, the present invention provides a brush roll for a vacuum cleaner, comprising: a housing; a motor disposed within the housing and having a pulley mounted on a shaft of the motor; a roller disposed within the housing and having a drive wheel; and a belt coupling the pulley to the drive wheel.

Preferably, a plurality of bristles are arranged on the roller. Preferably, the housing has a receiving chamber for accommodating the roller and a plurality of openings are formed in the housing communicating the receiving chamber with the outside. Preferably, the belt has a plurality of inner teeth arranged on an inner surface thereof and the pulley and the drive wheel have a plurality of outer teeth arranged on an outer surface thereof for engaging with the inner teeth. Preferably, the motor is a direct current motor. Ideally, the motor is a high voltage direct current motor. According to a second aspect, the present invention provides a vacuum cleaner incorporating a bush roll as described above.

Advantages of embodiments of the present invention include a brush roll having lower cost and noise as a belt is used to transmit driving power from the motor to the roller. The use of a HVDC motor furthers these advantages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to figures of the accompanying drawings. In the figures, identical structures, elements or parts that appear in more than one figure are generally labelled with a same reference numeral in all the figures in which they appear. Dimensions of components and features shown in the figures are generally chosen for convenience and clarity of presentation and are not necessarily shown to scale. The figures are listed below.

FIG. 1 shows a brush roll in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a housing of the brush roll;

FIG. 3 shows a roller of the brush roll;

FIG. 4 shows a motor of the brush roll; and

FIG. 5 shows a belt of the brush roll.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates a brush roll for a vacuum cleaner in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention. The brush roll is shown without an upper cover which includes the attachment for connecting the brush roll to the suction hose or pipe of the vacuum cleaner, to more clearly illustrate the working mechanism of the brush roll.

The brush roll has a housing 10. A motor 20 and a roller 30 are mounted in the housing 10. A pulley 22 is fitted on an end of the shaft of the motor 20. A drive wheel 32 is arranged at one end of the roller 20. The pulley 22 is coupled to the drive wheel 32 via a belt 40 so that rotation of the shaft of the motor 20 is transmitted to the roller 30.

The housing 10 has a receiving chamber 12 for accommodating the roller 30. A plurality of openings 14 are arranged on the housing 10 below the roller so that the bristles from the roller can extend through the openings to make contact with the surface to be cleaned. A cutout 16 in a support rib is adapted to support the motor 20 within the chamber, in conjunction with a similar rib formed on the upper housing part (not shown). The roller 30 has bristles 34, as described above, for sweeping dust and dirt from a surface to be cleaned.

Preferably, the belt 40 has a plurality of inner teeth arranged on the inner surface thereof and both the pulley 22 and the drive wheel 32 have a plurality of outer teeth arranged on an outer surface thereof for engaging with the inner teeth of the belt 40.

Preferably, the motor 20 is a direct current (DC) motor, ideally a high voltage direct current (HVDC) motor so as to avoid the need for a transformer to reduce the voltage of the supply power.

In the description and claims of the present application, each of the verbs “comprise”, “include”, “contain” and “have”, and variations thereof, are used in an inclusive sense, to specify the presence of the stated item but not to exclude the presence of additional items.

Although the invention is described with reference to one or more preferred embodiments, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications are possible. Therefore, the scope of the invention is to be determined by reference to the claims that follow.

For example, the belt, while described as a toothed belt, may be a slotted belt, i.e. having a plurality of holes instead of teeth and the teeth of the pulley and drive wheel directly engage the holes of the belt. Alternatively, the belt may be a V-belt and the pulley and drive wheel having a corresponding V- groove mating with the belt. 

1. A brush roll for a vacuum cleaner, comprising: a housing; a motor disposed within the housing and having a pulley mounted on a shaft of the motor; a roller disposed within the housing and having a drive wheel; and a belt coupling the pulley to the drive wheel.
 2. The brush roll of claim 1, wherein a plurality of bristles are arranged on the roller.
 3. The brush roll of claim 2, wherein the housing has a receiving chamber for accommodating the roller and a plurality of openings are formed in the housing communicating the receiving chamber with the outside.
 4. The brush roll of claim 1, wherein the belt has a plurality of inner teeth arranged on an inner surface thereof and the pulley and the drive wheel have a plurality of outer teeth arranged on an outer surface thereof for engaging with the inner teeth.
 5. The brush roll of claim 1, wherein the motor is a direct current motor.
 6. The brush roll of claim 1, wherein the motor is a high voltage direct current motor.
 7. A vacuum cleaner incorporating the bush roll of claim
 1. 8. A vacuum cleaner incorporating the brush roll of claim
 6. 